Time Travelers Never Die

By: Jack McDevitt

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

When physicist Michael Shelborne mysteriously vanishes, his son, Shel, discovers that he had constructed a time-travel device. Fearing his father may be stranded in time - or worse - Shel enlists Dave Dryden, a linguist, to accompany him on the rescue mission.

Their journey through history takes them from the Enlightenment of Renaissance Italy through the American Wild West to the civil rights upheavals of the 20th century. Along the way, they encounter a diverse cast of historical greats, sometimes in unexpected situations. Yet the elder Shelborne remains elusive. And then Shel violates his agreement with Dave not to visit the future. There he makes a devastating discovery that sends him fleeing back through the ages and changes his life forever.

©2009 Jack McDevitt (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"As the paradoxes begin to pile up and their luck in dodging some of history's villains runs out, McDevitt ingeniously handles a tricky denouement that will leave readers satisfied." ( Publishers Weekly)

A wild ride...

This book starts out fast and takes you for a wild ride. But this is a ride you will never want to get off! This is a wonderful listen, and I was motivated to purchase it in paper form. Well crafted and with an honest look at history, this book never fails to entertain while involving your intelligence to keep up.

Enjoyed the time travel aspect

Narrator started off real slow but was much improved by the end of the first chapter and was actually excellent there after. I enjoyed the time travel aspect where the two main characters travelled to witness many different events but found I didn't really care about the characters over all and though I finished the book just to see how it ended, thinking maybe it would be worth it, it wasn't in my opinion.

Tried multiple times to finish this one

I've had this audiobook for years. It is the only Jack McDevitt book I haven't finished (and re-read multiple times) because... I hate time travel stories where you go visit historic figures and events and then someone's device gets broken and now it's the "gotta get two lions and a rabbit across the river when only two can fit in the boat at a time" puzzle.

Weirdly, I love the Dr. Who BBC series, which is based on the same premise of moving around in time, but our main character there is a time traveler who isn't human and has a TARDIS and knows what he's doing. So I guess it's not the same.

Anyway, turns out that even the awesomeness of McDevitt can't get me to enjoy a time travel book. This is my only McDevitt audiobook, so there's also the possibility that for me, his books are meant to be read and not listened to. The narrator is perfectly good at his job, no shade being cast here. For whatever reason, I don't like the characters.

I'm stubborn, I'll keep trying to get through it. Hoping the payoff at the end is worth it.

Great Story! Well written and performed

I was spellbound with this book and fascinated by all the possibilities it opens up. The characters were interesting and full all were well done. The performance was fantastic. I put my life on hold and listened to it straight through!

Histrionics: a period means a 'pregnant pause'

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I love time travel novels. Unfortunately I didn't listen to more than 30 minutes of this. I had to stop because the reader is so irritating. He reads each sentence as if it were filled with hidden meaning, the phrase that is the turning point of the story. Each comma or period a signal for a long meaningful pause. Listen carefully to his reading in the preview. That's what you will be hearing for each sentence of the story, (long pause) I said.

A good read

This book was read well and an excellent story. The ending disappointed a little but was worth the time. I would reccommend it.

Mediocre story and robotic narration

For a time-travel story, the characters' motivations are dated. The beginning was moderately interesting as the device and rules were introduced. The two main characters are bland and chummy, with a mindset lifted straight from the Mad Men era. With 6 hours left, the goal the travelers started with is realized and the book reverts to a bullet list of event destinations that they bop in and out of. The encounters that do get described are just fanboy, "Your work is great!" stuff. After 3 hours of that, I gave up. I don't care how it ends.
The only part of the book that held my interest and felt like it had the soul of time-travel experience was when the guys travel to witness the events in Selma, Alabama and actively participate in the walk to Montgomery that ended in tragedy. The use of time-travel to manipulate events to free one of the main characters from the local police was done cleverly. But that was one chapter in a slog of a book. The characters exclaim, "My god!" so much it could be a drinking game and some of the author's word choices were so weird at times, I wondered if it had been translated from another language.
The narration has this 50s radio announcer flatness in between the dialog that almost made me turn off the book in the first chapter.
There isn't anything in this book to make me recommend it. It's not the worst thing I've read, but it's decidedly meh.

Narrator good but not great

Where does Time Travelers Never Die rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best from Jack McDevitt

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dave. Unlucky in love but a true friend with unquestioning loyalty. I identify.

Have you listened to any of Paul Boehmer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I like him; but he reads everything the same overly dramatic way. In my opinion, he needs to vary his delivery and save the drama for really dramatic moments.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me laugh in several places and the romantic occasions of unrequited love touched my heart. I found the historical references interesting and instructive.

Any additional comments?

Jack McDevitt is great...even in this departure from his space-based novels. The man knows how to write!

Not Half Bad

I like good sci fi, and this story is not bad. But the narrator, Paul Boehmer, has not learned his art. He reads very deliberately, as if he is reading to five year olds. This detracts from the story. Further, sound engineers and narrators of audio books do not appear to have yet figured out that most audio books are listened to in cars while people drive in noisy traffic. In Boehmer's case, he reads the narration at a normal level of speech, but he lowers his voice when he reads dialogue. This means you can't hear the story in car noise unless you are constantly raising the volume, then jumping to lower it when the normal sound level booms out. You'd think a producer would demand that his crew produce works with a range of sound that permits the listener to set his car radio volume at one level and forget it. As for the plot, the author did solve the time paradox. And also he made the interesting point that, because a time traveler can go into the future beyond his date of death, he never dies. One glaring omission in the story is a logical extension of the plot: The characters become so enthusiastic about time travel, they begin visiting all the famous people they can think of: Michelangelo, Galileo, the librarian at the ancient library in Alexandria, etc. Each time they are trying to find out if the famous personage was really as history portrayed him or her. In all this enthusiasm, they show zero interest in visiting the most famous man who ever lived. Was he as portrayed in written reports? Did he really say those things? Did he really mean them? No interest by the characters in this story. This indicates, in my view, a lack of courage by the author to deal with a logical end to the characters' quests and to write a story about the answers. Sad! However, this is not a bad story. Just be prepared for annoying sound level changes if you listen to it while driving!

Good story

Needs a better narrator, has a strange cadence in his reading. Not so bad if you listen at 1.3 speed.